The Homestay Murder (Completed)

Chapter 5 - Conclusion

A tall teenage girl appeared at the doorstep. "Oh! It's you Cynthia. Come in here."
As the girl walked in, she had a furious look. "What happened Cynthia? You look angry." Seema said.
"You could've told me about Mr. Vipin. Why didn't you?" She asked stamping the floor.
"Who told you?" Seema asked titling her head.
"Mom." Cynthia replied.
"It's alright now. I'm fine." Seema came closer. "Viraat was of great help. He kinda helped me overcome everything. He just went a couple of minutes ago."
"Hold it right there! Who's Viraat?" Cynthia asked.
"What do you mean? You didn't see him the entire day?" Seema asked with a gasp as the teenage girl shook her.
"Was he handsome?" Cynthia grinned. Seema just looked away sorting out the homestay records. "C'mon, tell me how he looked. Please."

"Fine." Seema said. "He was a bit taller than me. Long legs and long hands. He had a light beard and a mustache. His hair wasn't as curly as yours. He combed it more towards the upward right direction. I think so he used a bit of gel. His eyes were brownish black. His-" Seema stopped as Cynthia ran outside the room without a message. She came back after a few moments with a novel in her hand. "Does he kinda look like this?" Cynthia showed a picture on the bottom of the book.

Seema's eyes widened. "That's him!" She exclaimed. "That's the Viraat I'm talking about."
"That's actually him? But how's that possible? In this it's given his name is Ajay Varma." Cynthia said.
"Cynthia, he's a novelist. Almost every novelist has a pen name." Seema explained.
"Oh yeah." Cynthia giggled. "You could've made me meet him! I've read almost all of his novels!" She exclaimed. "I'm his huge fan."
Seema just gave a soft smile. Cynthia was later joined by her mother and aunt. "We had a great stay here. Very sorry for what happened to Mr. Vipin. He was such a great man." Claire said.
"The police said it was suicide." Seema explained the entire thing while Christiana made the payment and filled the form.
"At least everything is clear now." Claire said at the end. After saying the final goodbyes, the three left off in their vehicle.

Seema felt very lonely in the homestay. "Viraat Nair and Ajay Varma." She laughed. "Where did he even get that name from?" Seema wondered. "Ajay Varma is just-" She stopped. Her face became absolutely blank. Something had just struck her mind. "Ajay Varma." She said. "A for Ajay and V for Varma. AV. The initial daddy used to talk about. It's his pen name!" As she said this, Seema rushed into Viraat's room. She unlocked it.

Obviously nobody would've been inside. She turned on the lights to find something. Seema looked around the room. By now she had started to sweat. After looking everywhere, she noticed an envelope on one of the pillows of the bed. Seema grabbed it, ripped it open and started reading it. It said-

I don't know how this will sound to you. But please read it till the end...
The last person to see Mr. Vipin alive was not anyone who you may think. It was me. When you first saw me, I was injured badly and was almost unconscious. That may had been the first time you had saw me, but that wasn't the first time I had come to the homestay. I came to the homestay to do a pending work. That work was to murder your father. It may have been near eleven when I first came. The method of murder was simple. Install a silencer and shoot. I should say I shot him in an interesting pattern. First the stomach, second the chest and then the heart. Leaving the body how it was, I ran out of the homestay. You may be wondering why I came back and why I killed him. Let's start with the first question. On the way after the job was done, I felt I had made a mistake. I thought it would've been better to hide the body than just running off. On second thoughts, I came back. This is where I went wrong. Unfortunately for me, my black SUV met with a terrible accident with a same colored vehicle leaving me to an almost unconscious state. I barely knew where I was heading. I just kept on trembling and walking and once again came to the same homestay. I noticed a figure running from the homestay. Ignoring that, I just headed towards a building not knowing that the man who I had murdered was in that building. I kept on asking for help without getting a single answer. After turning on the lamps, I was left in shock to see the man I had murdered. By the time, you arrived. I had to do all the drama and luckily I got some first aid and a room to sleep. Again after you went to sleep, I sneaked to the main office. I got the murder weapon, wiped my fingerprints off it, and put your father's. At the end I dropped it below the bed to make it look like suicide. I actually thought of escaping at that time. But in that case, suspicions would've directly been on me. You had asked me before why I was helping you. Well, it was mainly to save myself and to get me out of the mess I had created. Now the second question. Every killer has a reason behind his crime. My reason was my parents. I told that my parents had died when I was very young. They did die, but they were murdered. You might not believe what I would say next. My parents were murdered none other than your father. You may know your father well, but not too well. Before your dad adopted you, he was a criminal who could do anything to buy land. The land of your homestay was once my dad's. His name was Ajay Varma. My dad's dream was to build a luxurious orphanage. Then your dad came into the picture. He wanted to buy the land at any cost. Months passed, and Mr. Vipin still fought for the land even though my father denied. One day when me and my mother were at home, Mr. Vipin came and directly shot my mother. First the stomach, then the chest, and finally the heart. I was hiding behind the bathroom door and saw my mother die in front of my very own eyes. As soon as my father came, he was devastated. I explained everything to him what I'd seen. He immediately rushed to the police station. But by the time my father reached, Mr. Vipin made it look like suicide and blamed my father for threatening his wife. Mr. Vipin then got hold of the land and adopted a girl child. That girl child was you. Years later he built a homestay on my father's land. I ran to Cochin where my grandparents stayed. We were absolutely powerless. Eventually, we moved on. The Vipin Varier you knew was different and the one I knew was different. For me he was just a criminal and will always be. It's been years since that happened, but I can never forget it.
I understand I've hurt you a lot. But that was not my intention. My real name is Viraat Varma. I just changed my surname into Nair. My father's name, Ajay Varma, is my pen name. I'm telling all of this to you because you're not like your father . I felt attached when I was around you, and maybe you would've been much more to me if your father and I were on different terms.
After reading this note, it's up to you what you want to do with it. You can hand it over to the police or burn it into ashes.

Viraat

Seema closed the note and kept it in the envelope. Not a single drop of a tear was in her eyes. Instead she closed her eyes and took a deep breathe. She flipped the envelope and there were one thousand and one hundred rupees in the back. 'Paying for my stay' was written on the money note. Without overthinking, Seema went towards the side table and grabbed the phone. Her face frowned with disappointed and anger as she dialled the number. Once she heard a voice from the other side, the young lady spoke, "Hello. Police?"

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AUTHORS' NOTE
Hope this was a great ride for you all! This was a story which I wrote when I was actually at a homestay so ya, u get it where I got the idea from.. Well there wasn't actually a murder there though...